The present invention concerns cargo carriers or baggage containers for motor vehicles. Particularly, the invention concerns cargo carriers for removable attachment to van-type vehicles.
Van-type vehicles have an enclosed body usually with two rear doors which are hinged at the outside edges of the doors and which swing toward the center of the van body. The typical van also includes a separate sliding side door which is most frequently utilized for access to the interior of the van body. The rear swing doors are usually reserved for loading cargo or luggage into the van.
In recent years, the full-sized vans have given way to the small "mini-vans", which gained almost instant popularity during the oil crisis of the 1970's. The mini-van has made family travel and recreational outings more economical than the full-sized van, and has provided a vehicle that is as easy to maneuver as an automobile, yet is designed for more comfortable travel. One difficulty with the mini-vans is that they often do not have as much storage space as a full-sized van and are, therefore, not as convenient for long duration trips.
With mini-vans, as with the smaller sedan-type vehicles, auxiliary storage space is frequently necessary. The typical approach for providing auxiliary storage space has been the car-top carrier which is mounted onto the roof of the vehicle. While the car-top carrier may be adequate for sedan-type vehicles, the same carrier presents several problems when used on a mini-van or even a full-sized van. Since the mini-van is taller than a typical sedan, the extra height becomes an inconvenience in mounting the car-top carrier onto the van roof and in loading the carrier. Moreover, the car-top carrier increases the wind resistance of the mini-van, which leads to a reduction in fuel economy.